Indians, Phillies Scouting Kevin Youkilis

The Indians and Phillies are keeping an eye on Kevin Youkilis as he rehabs from injury, according to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick (on Twitter). Crasnick goes on to tweet that while the Tribe has a need for a right-handed bat, they've yet to actually call the Red Sox to begin any negotiations.

Youkilis, 33, has appeared in 18 games for the Red Sox this season. He hit just .219/.292/.344 in those contests. The fast start of Will Middlebrooks and the long-term presence of Adrian Gonzalez have many speculating that the Red Sox may be ready to move on from Youkilis. Middlebrooks, ranked as Boston's top prospect and No. 51 in all of MLB by Baseball America this offseason, is hitting .277/.309/.565 with five homers through his first 16 games. Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe noted today that the Red Sox rave about Middlebrooks' glove as well (Twitter link).

The Indians have been using Jack Hannahan and Casey Kotchman at the corner infield positions, but Kotchman has just a .620 OPS and neither has an extensive history of Major League success. The Phillies, meanwhile, have received an OPS+ of 83 from Placido Polanco at third base. They've primarily used Ty Wigginton, John Mayberry, and Laynce Nix at first this year, to mixed results. As a whole, their first basemen are batting .272/.351/.406.

Earlier today, the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo threw the Diamondbacks into the mix of teams who could be interesting in acquiring the 33-year-old.

He’s been more valuable in those 100-130 game seasons than most guys are in 150+.

the list of players with a higher wOBA since ’08 goes like this – Pujols, Votto, Miggy Cabrera, Manny Ramirez. That’s it. In the entire game of baseball nobody else has hit better since 2008 than Youkilis.

Except Wiggy brings a poor glove to every position and Youk brings a tremendous glove to 1b and league average to 3b.

i like Wiggy.. Always have, but he is best used for what he is.. One of the (if not THE) best utility guys in the game. When he is over used? His stats plummet like a rock. He is a Willie Bloomquist with power and a horrendous glove at every position.

As Maine wrote below.. Youk played enough 1B FT just 1 and a half seasons ago to show he was at least a very solid 1b then. His 3b isn’t bad, but not GG quality for sure.

This guy isn’t any George Scott who ballooned up to well over 250++ pounds over the winter and all of a sudden become an immobile object to become a GG to dud at 1b.. Youk has not put on much at all.. If any over the course of his career. Sure a few injuries, but he still would be an above average 1b.

The amount of hate coming out over Youk is astounding for a ball player who plays as hard and loves the game as much as he does.. This isn’t one of those selfish.. “Gimme every AB I can to get into the HOF or i’ll cry in the corner” like Damon here, but a 100% grind out and play with nearly any injury..

It’s not hate, it’s the simple fact that there’s “plays hard” and there’s young, naturally athletic prospects that can replace those guys on their own teams. Everyone has their time, Youkilis has had his. And there’s more than one way to lose it in the field, I never said he’s put on weight, but his various injuries definitely inhibit his range in the field and have over the past 2 years. More to that point, he hasn’t played a full season in years.

Kind of looks like the Phillies are locked into short term thinking anyway.

the team is old, has boat loads of massive contracts out to old players and is set up in *win now* attitude.

That’s not a dice at Philly, nor it’s fans. Look at how they approached this past off season as more of an example.. Threw 80m+ at 2 more guys (Pap-Rollins) wrong side of 30 who will not be contributing when their contracts expire.. That team HAS to win now as it is setup.

Farm system (as I see the upper levels) has very little and once again.. Am not dicing on them. They are going to do their best to try and retain another member of the current team who will also be on the wrong side of 30 when their contract they will attemt to get them to sign expires (Hamels) making their payroll situation even worse, They also have 2 other people on the wrong side of 30 to worry about.. Pence and Victorino they must either sign or replace with nobody on the horizon to do so in the system close.

That is why Youkilis makes sense to this team. Whether or not they get close enough back to make a deal any type of reality? That is the question and as well.. Boston and Philly agree on any lower level prospects Philly has stashed away and Philly is counting on down the road to replace most of the current roster several years from now.

Philly reminds me of the mid 70’s “Over the Hill Gang” Washing RedSkins NFL team.. They too were old and kept on adding older players.. Putting off the inevitable for several years.. But… They finally crashed and burned.. Along with head coach George Allen.. I think Manuel is waiting on that for his retirement.. Like Allen did…

Blanton has been a nobody for a long time in the weaker NL, so a half a good starts this year isn’t going to change anyone’s opinion of him (nor should it). He’s not any better than what they already have in their rotation, especially after you factor in the move to the AL East.

Look I’m not making him out to be some kind of Cy Young contender, but you’re writing off the division he’s in NL or not, he’s on the last place team and they’re a .500 club right now. Also, take a look at our rotation, I don’t know how you can honestly say he’d make no contribution. Doubront is a bottom of the rotation guy, yet he has been the only consistent starter they have, Beckett & Lester are different people in every start, Bard can’t stop walking people, and Bucholz has taken over John Lackey’s mantel as the worst starting pitcher in baseball. The Red Sox are in no position to refuse even someone as ordinary as Blanton.

Yes, they absolutely are. Blanton isn’t any better than the guys currently in their rotation, and he isn’t even any better than the replacement players they have for their rotation. There’s absolutely no reason to trade one of the key pieces of your offense for anything that isn’t a clear upgrade, that trade makes zero sense for Boston. Zero.

I’m done arguing with you, one I’m not actually advocating hard for Blanton to join their team, it was a throwaway comment but two, you’re delusional if you don’t see how bad this rotation is & actually call Youk one of the biggest keys to their offense. Even if he came back tomorrow he’s less integral than several members of the lineup & Ellsbury & hopefully Crawford are back in a matter of weeks.

Even if you assume Buchholz gets sent down to figure his problems out Blanton would be the 7th best starting pitcher on the roster, and take a look at Youkilis’ production for the past four years. Seriously, go check it out.

You don’t give Youkilis anywhere near enough credit. I mean, you’re not even close. Tell me which players are better offensively: Gonzalez and Ortiz? Sure. Aviles? No. Byrd? Sweeney? Ross? No, no, and no. Nava? No. Middlebrooks? Nope. Pedroia? Maybe, but even “bad” Youkilis (last year) was as valuable a hitter as Pedroia. What don’t you understand about him being a top 5-10 hitter in the game since ’08? Pick the offensive stat you like: wOBA? He’s 5th best; wRC+? He’s tied for 9th best; OPS? He’s 6th best. Now after struggling for a whole 18 games to start the year people are ready to throw him away. It’s pathetic really.

Top 5-10, in all of baseball? From 2008 to now, say you’re building a team and you can have anyone, and you’d honestly, no bias as a fan choose Youkillis? Pedroia, Ortiz, Gonzalez and Ellsbury are all more important offensive players and (with the exception of Ortiz) at this point, defensive players as well, and that’s just members of his own team.

You can argue metrics until the cows come home, the point is he hasn’t played over 140 games in 4 years, it’s not just a matter of the first 18 games of this year, it’s the absences, and there’s no indication that’s going to get any better going forward.

Three of the 4 better hitters play the same position as him (or the position he should be playing) so I can’t say that I would chose him over them, but that is a totally different argument. The facts are the facts, for the last four years he has been one of the best hitters in the game, it really is that simple.

And there are tons of things that point to him getting better going forward: his BABIP is 50 points lower than his career norm; his walk rate is half of his career norm; and his GB, FB and LD rates were way off his career norms (and in such a small sample they can swing wildly with one or two hits). Adjust those back even to even 75% of his normal rates and he’s hitting .260/.365/.464 (which, by chance, is almost exactly his ZiPS projection for the rest of the season), that is as good as he hit last year and would be good for 3rd best among Red Sox regulars.

not at this point, youkilis is very replaceable. he’s not going to 1B, he’s not going to DH, and Middlebrooks looks to be winning the everyday job at 3B. The only option I see here, if not trading youk, is to send middlebrooks back down and I doubt bosox fans want that. also, it’s not like youk is at the top of his game at this point. I mean I guess it depends on how people see Brown, if he’s still considered a blue-chip prospect then it’s too much. If he’s closer to fringe, then it’s feasible, but if I’m a philly fan I’m hoping domonic brown is going to find his groove and be an MLB starter, because they have nothing else going for them as far as position prospects, at least in the upper minors.

LOL. Even if he does turn out that way (remember he’s a rookie) Middlebrooks is a slick defender and nobody wants to see reynolds anywhere close to fielding a position. Baltimore would LOVE to shed that contract of his. They could tolerate paying him 20m over the next 2 seasons to hit 30+ HR and driving in 85+ runs, but the guy costs a team (guessing without looking) probably a dozen or more with his terrible glove at 3b.

He is the David Ortiz of third basemen.

Edit:

Just for giggles.. Looked up Reynolds UZR.. Career avg is *-23*.. That is worse than awful.

We’re judging Middlebrooks’ prospects for strikeouts & hitting in general from a handful of games? His AAA stats give you more to work with, and yes he’s a star in the field and he’s fast as hell. Strikeouts or not I’ll take that, and 5 home runs in 16 games.

I’m not calling him Ellsbury, but we’re talking about the player who’s inheriting Youkilis’ role here, he is fast. This whole fricken team has things to work on, being saddled with an aging 3B is one more problem they don’t need.

Middlebrooks is not fast, how another player runs has nothing to do with how Middlebrooks runs. He’s a squarely below average runner. And the Red Sox aren’t “saddled with an aging 3B,” they are fortunate enough to have one of the best hitters in the game playing 3B for them. Once he’s healthy Youkilis is easily a better player than Middlebrooks is right now.

keep hearing of pitchers (SP) for Youk, usually old NL ones. Think if Youk is moved.. It’s going to be for prospects. No Blanton/Dempster/Lannan types for a useful 3b.

Boston already has Beckett/Lester/Bucholz with *as of now* Doubront and Bard bringing up the back end of the rotation. Matsuzaka coming back from the DL in less than a month (max.), so no spot for another AL back end SP.

think they will hold off on moving one of the very few productive hot corner players who is even in the game, much less could be available until decent proposals from contending teams are made and hopefully a fair prospect(s) are involved.

I’d love his bat on the Tribe! You could likely get a good young arm out’ve our system. Even though Hannahan and Lopez have played well, it’d be hard NOT to give Youk time both there and at first. Kotchman is there to stay at first due to his glove, but it’s been past time to dump Shelley Duncan, and we don’t need Santana playing 1B. Make this happen Antonetti!

There is NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO way the Indians are stupid enough to trade a can’t miss SS with Power who will be at the major league level before he turns 21 for a 33 year old over paid Youk this guy has been nicked up of late the first time the Red Sox would ask for that type of player for the over paid Youk the trade talk would end.

Do not forget Youk would just be a rental so there will not be anything coming back of real quality.

What Red Sox fan is forgetting is that Youk is a rental he is a free agent after this season after finding this out plus he is at 10 mil there is no way that receive anything near the quality that they will ask for.

Maybe 2 fringe prospects outside the top 20. Youk is not even a good match just from the stand point of he will be on and off the DL he has been nicked up the last 2 years. JMHO

Youkilis has a team option for next year, so he doesn’t have to be a free agent after the year. Plus, his contract is actually pretty cheap for a guy as talented as Youkilis.

There’s some serious recency bias going on, and I’m not just talking about you, tons of people have being doing it. Even if we include last year when he was playing with a torn abdominal muscle he has been one of the top players in the game since 2008. He’s been a top 5 hitter and an elite defender at first base (and average-ish at 3B) over that time, and has been on pace for at least 5 WAR every single one of those years (again, that includes an injured 2011 that everyone considered a down year for him).

If he has a history of spending large amounts of time on the DL the Dolans will be interested in him. Anyone remember that when we trade Cliff Lee to the Phillys not only did we not get any of their top prospects but, 2 of the 4 players we got were on the DL at the time of the trade.

I know he is an injury risk but I also know he is from Cincinnati and said he would like to come home to play with the REDS! Scott Rolen may not play again and I think they may bring the Youk home but we shall see.

Youkilis because of his walkability was always a Billy Beane favorite. You could solve a problem for both teams with a Coco Crisp-Youkilis trade. The A’s will even throw in Daric barton. What say you Red Sox fans?

“walkability”? Are you crazy? Since 2007, Youkilis hasn’t finished any higher than 13th in the American League in walks. The Billy Beane thing is a myth. Youkilis is NOT Greek and he doesn’t walk alot. Get a grip.

Realistically, is there anyway Youk gets traded (if he does get traded) for anything other than propsects? I don’t really see him (even with prospects and/or cash added) landing the Red Sox a starting pitcher that would bump anyone from the current rotation (am I wrong here?) nor do I see us trading him for a reliever/closer considering how solid the pen has been the last month and also that Bailey and probably Bard will be joining at some point later on. I suppose the only possible trade involving Major League ready talent would be for a better-than-4th outfielder – does that match us up with any teams looking for 3B help?